6.12.2008

Brooklyn Hipster Parents: Myth Dispelled

I know some of you think I'm some sort of wild hipster parent because I have a Brooklyn address but I assure you it's not true. Sure, Finslippy used to live here and she's cool. And Dooce held her book-signing party here and she's cool. And the Sleep is For the Weak book signing party is going to be at the Tea Lounge in Park Slope on September 12. (Shameless plug! Shameless plug!) But those are other parts of Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is a big place.

In my part of the borough, Brooklyn Heights, Nate is like the lone tattooed dad, and probably the only one that ever lived on Avenue C with four roommates and a couch that smelled like the homeless guy they swiped it out from under. This is not exactly where the struggling writers and bloggers and comedians and table-waiters come to spawn. It's more like where the Wall Street guys settle when they want a short commute and a few trees for the kids.

Which is why it still totally cracks me up that we live here.

If you want to know more about where I live, or the rest of NYC for that matter, Mommy Poppins, which is the most awesomely unpretentious blog about New York for families, just put together a really great New York City neighborhood guide written by all different bloggers.

Click over and you can read my essay on Brooklyn Heights, see a cute picture of Nate and Thalia, and learn about pathetic second-rate celebrity sightings here.

19 Comments:

So funny that you wrote about this today, Liz. I was just about to e-mail you and Tony something from Jessica Coen's site that I thought you would appreciate...

Friend: I moved to Park Slope.Me: Did you have a baby?

"Thing is, I wasn’t trying to be a smart ass. This just crapped out of my mouth. And it was totally stupid and narrow-minded of me. She didn’t necessarily have a baby! She totally could have become a lesbian."

The time before the last two I was in NYC, a friend from Grave's End meet up with us in Brooklyn Heights to show us around. We'd never ventured over to Brooklyn. We had always stayed in Manhattan when we visited for business or to be total tourists.

And what did we hit? Grimaldi's, the ice cream shop and yes we even walked the promenade! And what did our friend (who is a cameraman, so totally into the whole movie thing) say about the promenade? "You know every hollywood movie where the couple shares a kiss with a scene of manhattan in the background...."

When we left Germany in the early 70's, we lived in Brooklyn Heights and my mother used to tell me "say Brooklyn HEIGHTS not Brooklyn...." I never quite got it. I went to P.S.8 and was one of only two white kids in the class (the other one was a little polish boy who wore bow ties to school).

I lived in NY for five years, always in Brooklyn. In Park Slope, until I got divorced. Then, I moved to Williamsburg. (Where else to be single?) I miss it terribly since moving to Austin two years ago. Please give it a hug from me, an old friend.:)

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